Designer: Aldo Londi (1911 – 2003)

Item: Fritte Colorate Series Lidded Box

Manufactured by: Bitossi

Country of origin: Italy

Year made: 1957 to 1959

Materials: Chamotte stoneware, glaze and fused glass

Dimensions: 2 ¾” x 7 ½” 3 ½”

Condition: Very Good to Excellent.  A few very small nicks as shown, but acceptable given this object’s scarcity.  This is the cleanest example we have ever seen with other examples coming to market with large chips and losses.

Description: Here is another much harder-to-find Aldo Londi for Bitossi lidded box with the Fritte Colorate fused glass checkered glaze.  Any Londi objects with this fused glass glaze are very hard to find to begin with, but this checkered glaze pattern on any object seems to be the scarcest.  Generally we see examples with this glaze in the form of ashtrays or bottles, and often they have condition issues.  We previously sold a pair of bookends with this pattern, as can be seen in the sold section of this website. This example bears its original Raymor label with the initials BIT for Bitossi and the correct Bitossi marks as shown.  More often than not, these original Raymor labels have come off or are only partially visible, so having one fully intact is an extra bonus.

Aldo Londi was a painter, sculptor and ceramicist.  He started his career with Cav. G. Bitossi & Figli in 1946 serving as the artistic director from 1946 until 1976 and then staying on for the remainder of his life as a major design contributor.  He experimented extensively throughout his life with various glaze techniques and styles and some of his forms and glazes have become iconic Italian modern design classics from the midcentury period.